A PAIR of thieves have admitted pinching a large quantity of cooking oil from a pub in Padgate.

The oil was stolen from the Station House, on Station Road South, on Tuesday, December 17.

But the pub’s owner tailed the van the offenders fled the scene in, giving updates to police as he did so.

And officers were eventually able to stop the vehicle on the M60 near Rochdale shortly after 1pm that day.

On Monday, January 7, Billy Simpson and Jordan Ford, both from Bradford, admitted charges of theft at Warrington Magistrates Court in relation to the incident.

Simpson, 28, was given a 16-month community order and told to serve a curfew from 7.15pm to 7.15am for four months.

He was previously convicted of stealing £600 of cooking oil from a Morrisons supermarket in Scarborough in May last year.

And 22-year-old Ford was handed a 14-month community order, including a two-month curfew covering the same times.

Both defendants were also told to pay a £90 victim surcharge and £85 in court costs.